Condemnation followed. New sanctions were threatened. More on that below.

Pyongyang's KCNA news service announced the test. It said it used a "miniatured,
lighter nuclear device with greater explosive force than previously." It
claimed the test "did not pose any negative impact on the surrounding environment."

In response to Western hostility, unspecified "second and third measures"
may follow. North Korean diplomat Jon Yong Ryong said his country
"will never bow down to any resolution."

America's been at war with North Korea since June 1950. Truman's war never
ended. An uneasy armistice exists. It's unprecedented in length. Nothing
in sight suggests an end game. Maybe another hot war looms.

Provocations may precede one if Washington prioritizes it. North Korea wants
confrontation avoided at all costs. It wants peace and normalized relations.
It wants its sovereignty respected. It has every right to insist.

North Korea is the only nation to be sanctioned for trying to launch a satellite.
Virtually all countries use them for communications, weather forecasting,
navigation, resource management, and other non-military purposes.

A US/Russia/Ukraine/Norway Sea Launch consortium launches satellites from
international waters. They do so annually. In June 2009, its provider, Sea
Launch Co. LLC, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

A 2008 NASA Office of International and Interagency Relations report titled
Global Reach: A View of NASA's International Cooperation says the Agency
signed 4,000 international agreements to that time.

Building the International Space Station is its most far-reaching project.
America, Russia, Japan, Canada, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and seven
other ESA members are involved.

The 1967 Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the
Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial
Bodies (the Outer Space Treaty) calls space "the province of all mankind."

"Outer space….shall be free for exploration and use by all States without
discrimination of any kind," it says.

North Korea alone is censured. The Security Council did so. Violating resolutions
1718 and 1874 were cited. They imposed harsh economic and commercial sanctions.

They did so more for geopolitical than nuclear reasons. Preventing nuclear
proliferation was claimed. Threatening peace and security was cited.

No country threatens world peace more than America. It prioritizes preemptive
first-strike nuclear attacks. It maintains a unilateral right to do so against
nonbelligerent/nuclear or non-nuclear states.

It wages multiple direct and proxy wars. It menaces humanity in the process.
North Korea is a target of choice. Conflict so far hasn't followed.

Washington and South Korea plan additional bilateral sanctions. Other countries
will be pressured to go along. Pyongyang manages best it can. It's held
its own for decades. It resists imperial bullying. It has every right to
do so.

After the latest sanctions were imposed, its Foreign Ministry said it "flatly
rejects the unjust acts of the UNSC aimed at wantonly violating the sovereignty
of the DPRK and depriving it of the right to launch satellites for peaceful
purposes."

"The hostile forces are seriously mistaken if they think they can bring
down the DPRK with sanctions and pressure."

The "DPRK will continue to exercise its independent and legitimate right
to launch satellites for peaceful purposes while abiding by the universally
recognized international law on the use of space for peaceful purposes."

It "will continuously launch satellites for peaceful purposes." It has every
right to do so. It added that "the prospect for denuclearization of the
Korean Peninsula has become gloomier."

Washington bears full responsibility. Obama prioritizes conflict and instability.
Peace is a non-starter. Pyongyang has no other choice.

It "will take steps for physical counteraction to bolster the military capabilities
for self-defense, including nuclear deterrence….to cope with the evermore
undisguised moves of the US to apply sanctions and apply pressure against
the DPRK."

It prioritizes peace and normalized relations. Denuclearization talks depend
on Washington and other Western countries agreeing.

An emergency Security Council meeting was called following its nuclear test.
Expect new sanctions to follow.

North Korea manages best it can. Shell companies and other devices are used.
They're partly successful. Trading partners go along. Many abhor, don't
support, or don't care about about restrictions.

It doesn't stop Washington from pressuring Security Council members to impose
them. Beating up on North Korea is longstanding policy. Expect no change
now.

Washington first introduced nuclear weapons to the Korean peninsula. Tactical
weapons were involved. When Soviet Russia dissolved, North Korea was targeted.
In response, Pyongyang withdrew from NPT.

Targeting nonbelligerent countries invites responses. North Korea chose
to develop a nuclear deterrent. It has just cause to fear Washington.

East Asian/Korean expert Bruce Cumings discussed it in books and other writings.

"What was indelible about" the Korean war, he said, "was the extraordinary
destructiveness of the United States air campaigns against North Korea,
from the widespread and continuous use of firebombing (mainly with napalm),
to threats to use nuclear and chemical weapons, and the destruction of huge
North Korean dams in the final stages of war."

Virtually the entire country was bombed to rubble. Principle targets included
Pyongyang, Chongyin, Wonsan, Hungnam and Rashin.

Three to four million died. Unimaginable overall casualties were inflicted.
Innocent civilians suffered most. Terror weapons were used. Napalm's effect
was horrific.

One survivor spoke for others, saying:

"It fell right on people. Men all around me burned. They lay rolling in
the snow. Men I knew begged me to shoot them."

"It was terrible. When the napalm had burned the skin to a crisp, it would
be peeled back from the face, arms, legs like fried potato chips."

America wages wars ruthlessly. Rule of law principles are spurned. Orders
directed US forces to burn towns and villages. Create oceans of fire, they
said.

General Matthew Ridgway directed air force bombers to burn Pyongyang and
other strategic targets. Scorched earth death and destruction reflected
policy.

MacArthur wanted commander's discretion to use nuclear weapons. Doing so
could win the war in 10 days, he claimed.

He wanted to spread a radioactive belt from the Sea of Japan to the Yellow
Sea. He called his plan "a cinch." Soviet Russia would have done nothing
about it, he said.

Cumings said non-nuclear war "leveled North Korea and killed millions of
civilians. North Koreans tell you that for three years they faced a daily
threat of being burned (alive) with napalm."

There was no escape. By "1952 just about everything in northern and central
Korea had been completely leveled. What was left of the population survived
in caves."

Bomb damage assessment showed 18 of 22 major cities were half or more obliterated.
Big industrial ones were from 75 - 100% destroyed. Villages were described
as "low, wide mounds of violent ashes."

Pyongyang fears America for good reason. It prioritizes nuclear deterrent.
It's best for self-defense, it believes. Failure to protect its people would
be irresponsible.

What follows remains to be seen. America’s agenda reflects imperial lawlessness.
Permanent war is policy. Mass killing and destruction follow.

Perhaps the Korean peninsula is targeted. It wouldn't be the first time.
The fullness of time will tell what's planned.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book is titled "Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge
discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour
on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays
and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.